Prices of Petrol and Diesel Go Down despite Heavy Excise Duty

By Soko Directory Team / Published December 15, 2015 | 7:30 am

The prices of fuel have gone down once again despite the heavy excise duty that had been imposed on diesel and which took effect this December. Motorists as well as kerosene users have something to smile about following the reductions by the Energy and Regulatory Commission.

On Monday, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) announced a 0.40 shillings drop per liter of super petrol while the prices of both diesel and kerosene have dropped by 1.15 shillings and 1.54 shillings respectively.

The government had started implementing the excise duty from the 1st of December 2015 that resulted in the rise of 2.06 shillings in duty on diesel to 10.30 shillings per liter. The excise duty on petrol remained unchanged at 19.89 shillings per liter. The excise duty also affected such commodities as water, imported second hand vehicles as well as beer.

At the moment, Kerosene does not attract any excise duty under the new law, but 0.45 shillings that is levied per liter, comprising the petroleum regulation levy and the petroleum development levy. Last week, a report emerged that the Energy and Regulatory Commission had been pressurizing the National Treasury to impose a tax of 10 shillings on a liter of kerosene but the Treasury is said to have declined.

The international market prices in terms of crude oil has been on a downward trend as a result of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) failing to agree on a proposal to scale down output in order to curb oversupply of oil on the market.

During the month of November, the price of crude oil averaged $43.55 per barrel which was down from $47.30 per barrel. Last year, the price of crude oil fell sharply to close at an average of $60.65 per barrel in December.

The Energy and Regulatory Commission announced a Sh9.13 reduction in the price of super petrol in the month of January, resulting in low fuel prices last seen four years ago in Kenya.

Article by Juma Fred.

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